This invention relates to apparatus for use in a system for reclaiming or recycling pneumatic tires such as automobile and truck tires.
Systems have been provided and are currently in use for recycling tires, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,090,670 to W. D. Bennett describes a system of this nature. Such systems usually include one or more shredders which cut the tires into small pieces, and a pyrolysis process which reduces the pieces to usable oil, carbon and a flammable gas.
While the shredders are effective in cutting up most of a tire including the belting, they have difficulty in cutting up the bead wires. These wires are located in the beads of the tire and are substantially heavier and more difficult to cut than the belting.
Machines have also been provided for debeading (removing the bead wires from) tires. In some machines, such as the machine shown in Ulsky U.S. Pat. No. 4,355,556, the entire bead including the bead wire is cut off from the side walls of a tire. The Leguillon U.S. Pat. No. 2,230.302 discloses a machine including blades for forming slits in the beads and a hook which pulls the bead wires out of the beads through the slits. Further, the Uemura U.S. Pat. No. 3,838,492 discloses a machine including a die having a narrow die opening, and a hook which pulls a bead wire through the die opening. The die operates to strip the elastomeric tire material from a bead wire as the wire is pulled through the die opening.
The machines shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,230,302 and 4,355,556 are relatively complex and slow acting and do not easily accommodate tires of different diameters. The machine shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,838,492 appears to place an excessive tension on a bead wire as it is pulled through the die opening. Apparently the bead wire may be broken in the latter machine, and this patent refers to a chuck for pulling an end of a bead wire through the die opening.